Hello

I recently purchased a used W530 - my third one, as a backup machine. The laptop is absolutely gorgeous, looks brand new. But there is one issue. The AC jack of my new W530, unlike the other two, does not have two notches in it to accept the power pack plug. And the power pack plug doesn't have the two tabs that my three other W530 power packs have (it actually looks like the tabs were ground down in the new one. (When I check the power pack model number online, the replacement packs DO have the tabs.).

As a consequence, I can't use my other AC adapters on my new laptop, because, without the notches, the machine cannot accommodate the tabbed AC plug. This is an issue, albeit a small one, because I have three power packs stationed around my home so that I can work in different rooms with having to keep plugging and unplugging a power pack, a particular problem in my home office where the power pack and wall plug is behind furniture.

The question I have is: can I gently file down the tabs on at least one of those other power packs so I can use it with the new machine? I did try using the new power pack with my other W530s, and it works fine even without the plug tabs. I'm assuming the tabs and notches are there only to help hold in the plug? Does anyone know? Obviously, with the notches and tabs, the AC plug can only be inserted into the jack in one of two ways. Does it make a difference if I remove the tabs? Or does anyone know where I can get a Lenovo 170 watt AC adapter with the tabs to match my notchless AC jack?

The seller tells my that W530s came with two different motherboards, one with and one without those notches. 

Many thanks. I do love these W530s.

Anthony Giorgianni

Hello.

Yes, the 170W adapter has the notches and came with the quad-core i7-3xxxQM CPUs, but the dual core i5/i7 machines came with the 135W adapter which doesn't have the notches. Filing down the notches and using the 170W adapter with the machine will work fine, and they will still work with the quad core machines you have. The notches were just to differentiate between the models because the quad cores NEED the 170W adapter, but it's a bit extreme in my opinion.

I'd just get a new 135W adapter for the dual core one.

Also, the quad core machines have 4x SODIMM slots for a max 32GB RAM, the dual cores only 2x SODIMM slots for 16GB max.

All the best!
Atli Jarl.

Thank you Alti.

But I'm a bit confused. Belarc and Think Vantage say the new machine has a 2.70 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3740QM. Isn't that a quad core processor that requires a 170 watt adapter? It has 24 gig ram.

Thanks again.

TonyG

That is a quad core alright. The power input must have been replaced.

All the best!

Atli Jarl.

That's may thinking. The jack must have been replaced along the way. The seller said it's no problem removing the tabs from any of the other adapter plugs. And he sent me photos about how to do it safely using a progressively larger series of Torx bits and a manual wrench.

So I guess I'm set.

I appreciate your help, Atli

Regards,

TonyG